Less than a month now! CHAOS BURNING is the second in my Bound by Magick series with Berkley Sensation. It’s Simon’s story (you meet him in HEART OF DARKNESS). The world takes a hard, dark turn in this one!

The life of Lark Jaansen, hunter in Clan Gennessee, has been shaped by violence and unrest and it defines her future. Well-trained and resilient, she’s met her militaristic match in Simon Leviathan, a warrior not of this world. Locked in mutual admiration, and a desire so hot it burns, Lark and Simon have something else in common: they love the dark, and as a shadow is cast over their world, they’re each coming into their own.

A mysterious war has been waged among the Others. As witches and humans turn against each other, as fae retreat in fear, and as vampires rise, Lark and Simon discover that an unseen force is behind it. A single, hungry entity older than recorded history has returned to gorge on the magick of his victims. He is the Magister, nothing less than the end of time. Finding him is Lark and Simon’s first hope. Surviving him is their last.

“I don’t know why you have to be so good at everything.” Lark looked up, and up some more until she met Simon’s gaze. He’d offered her the refuge of his home, as if by instinct he’d known she needed it, needed the solace of friendship and safety away from the ugly reality of her job.

Nonplussed, he shrugged. “I could say the same of you.”

She tossed her cards down. “Not with this hand.”

He laughed. “Nope.”

“Not like you don’t have enough money.” She waved a hand around.

“It’s a nice life.”

“Understatement.” She stood. “All right. I need a swim. I must tell you how many benefits there are to being your friend. Pool. Great land to run. Home gym to drool over. You’re pretty okay to look at too. Top-shelf booze. You like cards and scary movies and you never complain about how many calories are in whatever you’re eating.”

“You’re always welcome to enjoy my place.”

She did. And she appreciated it. Over the last month or so she’d been in Seattle, she’d come to really enjoy the time she spent at Simon’s house. And to value the friendship of the man who owned it. So funny how they’d clicked so well, right from the start. She had real friends in Seattle and the way things were going, the darkness descending on them, she’d needed that connection.

“Thank you. I mean that.”

There was a long moment between them and he shook his head as if to free himself from it. He grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here when you used the pool. I admit to being curious as to what you’d wear to swim in. Come on. I’ll meet you down there. You can make me lunch when we finish.”

She socked his arm and her knuckles hurt. He was solid. Like a damned tank. And she couldn’t tell a lie, she was pretty interested to see how he filled out swim trunks.

“Fine. You did grill the last time I was here. I suppose it’s my turn.”

She headed into the spare room he’d generously assigned her. A place she could put her stuff when she came out to run or use the pool or garden. The view was stunning from in there. As it was pretty much from everywhere else in the house.

Simon Leviathan had become a friend. A person who never judged, though clearly she amused him and possibly offended his sense of style. He played cards, drank, smoked cigars, stayed up late and had impeccable taste. He also enjoyed things like making bullets and going to the shooting range. He was a total dude, but in the least annoying way possible. Nothing to complain about at all except for the way they got constantly interrupted by women coming on to him. That bugged her. Yes, sure, she got that their thing wasn’t that kind of thing. But women who just walked up between a man and the woman he’s having a drink with to blatantly come on to the guy were jerks.

Changing quickly, she gave herself a look over her shoulder at her back and butt. Helena had given her the suit for her last birthday. It showed more skin than she usually did, but it fit well and made her feel sexy so that was a win.

Though she was more pale than usual because she’d been inside so much, the view still wasn’t that bad at all. Just because he was in the guy-friend camp didn’t mean she wasn’t going to look nice. He was, after all, ridiculously handsome so she’d be slacking if she didn’t at least try to keep up.

Grabbing a towel, she headed through the breezeway toward the pool house. Not that she’d catch up to him in the looks category. He was beautiful. As if he’d just stepped from an issue of GQ for Others. Smooth. Debonair, clever. His clothes were expensive and tailored. They didn’t make his size off the rack anyway, so she supposed tailoring was a necessity.

Not that he was unaware of his appeal. She found it charming. He knew he was hot shit and he worked it. Never to anyone else’s detriment, which is probably why it was charming instead of douchey.

On the other hand, she was sloppy and silly and awash with color. She knew it and was just fine with it. It made her happy and that’s what counted. She’d given up trying to be something she wasn’t a long time ago. She wouldn’t be gorgeous and classy like Helena or Meriel. But she was Lark, one hundred percent, and that was important.

Today’s prize is a digital ARC of CHAOS BURNING – I’ll announce the winner in next Monday’s Winner’s Post

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2012 at 3:00 am in Uncategorized. You can feed this entry. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I would complain about the shortness of the excerpt but I know you are just starting us out easy and as release date draws nearer you will start the teasing in earnest. So mean. I am eagerly awaiting release day.

Yet something else nice and fuzzy to look foward to this summer–its books like this that allows me to get through the rough work weeks. 🙂 Can’t wait for this one, think I’ll go back and re-read the first one.

I wish this book was out now! I’m having surgery tomorrow and although it’s nothing serious I’ll be pretty much confined to my bed for about a week, this book would have been a perfect companion 😛
Good thing there are other exciting new releases coming to tide me over until this book hits the (e)book shelves!

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